Contrails are a result of combustion leaving the plane’s engine, but get it close to the sun and it creates a stunning rainbow effect.

A Japanese photographer snapped a plane emitting a rippled rainbow of clouds in the sky over Oshinomura, Yamanashi and shared the brilliant images on Twitter.

The iridescent colours appear when contrails form near the sun and the light reflects off millions of water droplets or ice crystals that form in the condensation from the plane.

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A Japanese photographer snapped of a plane emitting a rippled rainbow of clouds in the sky over Oshinomura, Yamanashi. The brilliant colours appear when contrails form near the sun and the light reflects off small droplets of water or ice crystals that form in the condensation from the plane

HOW DO CONTRAILS FORM?

The phenomenon of contrails occurs when aircraft fly above 25,000ft, where the air temperature is around minus 86F.

Contrails form when water vapor condenses and freezes around small particles that exist in aircraft exhaust.

The water vapor comes from the air and from the plane itself.

They are usually short-lived,

But if there is already a significant amount of moisture in the atmosphere they can linger for hours, as the excess water vapor from the engines tips the surrounding air past its saturation point.

And rainbow contrails appear when they form closer to the sun and the light reflects off millions of water droplets or ice crystals that form in the condensation from the plane.

The photographer, KAGYA, shared rare sighting with Twitter saying he just pointed his super telephoto lens towards the sky and caught the plan flying through a cloud of five different colours.

KAGYA has been working as digital artist since the 1990s and has kept the theme of nature in most of his pieces, such as the universe, the blue planet and humankind – so rainbow contrails fits into his passion.

The phenomenon of contrails occurs when aircraft fly above 25,000ft, where the air temperature is around minus 86F.

This causes water vapor emitted by the engines to crystallize and form the familiar white streaks across the sky, known as contrails.

These can be short-lived.

But if there is already a significant amount of moisture in the atmosphere they can linger for hours, as the excess water vapor from the engines tips the surrounding air past its saturation point.

Although both rainbow and traditional contrails can make a stunning picture, they could also be the reason more solar radiation is reaching our surface, scientists have warned.

Researchers have found new data that suggests the layer of crystals left from the contrails is causing a more diffused type of light.

There isn't enough data to support how much of an effect the icy haze left by airplanes has had, but researchers believe it might be altering the climate system.

'This haze is caused by airplanes, and it is gradually whitening blue skies,' said Charles Long of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory, at a press conference this week at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.

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From the 1950s to the 1980s, the sun's light seemed to deem then started coming back in full force, proving that energy isn't constant.

When scientists looked for a cause, they tried linking these changes to the sun's variable output, said Martin Wild of the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich during the press conference.

Tremendous amounts of aerosols were sent into our atmosphere in the mid-20th century, which ultimately blocked some of the sun's energy.

The photographer, KAGYA, shared rare sighting with Twitter saying he just pointed his super telephoto lens towards the sky and caught the plan flying through a cloud of five different colours. KAGYA has been working as digital artist since the 1990s and has kept the theme of nature in most of his pieces, such as the universe, the blue planet and humankind – so rainbow contrails fits into his passion

This was caused by the soaring levels of pollution, but once highly populated countries like the U.S. and Europe decreased their amount of pollution, including the amount of aerosols, and the sun appeared to slightly brighten.

In addition to these findings, Long and his colleagues found that some of the sun's light travels directly on the Earth's surface, but some of it gets scattered while travelling through the atmosphere.

With less pollution, this diffuse light should have decreased, but instead it appeared to be increasing.

The phenomenon of contrails occurs when aircraft fly above 25,000ft, where the air temperature is around minus 86F. This causes water vapor emitted by the engines to crystallize and form the familiar white streaks across the sky, known as contrails. Rainbow contrails make for a stunning picture like this image take in the Mid Sussex District 10 years ago

He believes air traffic is the reason for all these particles, as exhaust from an airplane engine has aerosols and water vapor. It's extremely cold high in the atmosphere and these particles serve as nuclei for ice crystals, which form the bright contrails seen flowing behind a plane.

Some of these contrails have been found to contribute to climate change, according to other scientists.